Senate Appropriations has 8 bills on Fri Jan 30

In these appropriations bills I have not noted where all of the money comes from. Do not get the impression all of these appropriations are from the general fund or directly from the State of SD.

SB 24 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Authorize the Board of Regents to demolish buildings on the campus of South Dakota State University and to make an appropriation therefor.

The SD Board of Regents (BOR) asked for this bill. This will allow the board of regents to demolish a bunch of single-family residence facilities at SDSU so the facilities can be replaced with “lower maintenance and more efficient housing better suited to the long-term needs of the university.” $250,000 would be appropriated for this demolition bill.

SB 25 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Authorize the Board of Regents to enter into a lease-purchase agreement to acquire agricultural property in Moody County for the use and benefit of the South Dakota State University Agricultural Experiment Station.

Another BOR bill. The least terms for the property in question cannot exceed fifteen years and must not have an annual lease payment of more than $120,000. That $120,000 seemed like a lot. Here is where the bill says it comes from: “The annual lease payment shall be authorized through the normal budgeting process and shall be made from other funds derived from grant and contract indirect recovery funds, royalty funds, and income from sales of services.” The land in question is about 320 acres.

SB 26 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Authorize the Board of Regents to demolish the veterinary isolation building on the campus of South Dakota State University and to make an appropriation therefor.

Yep, a BOR bill. Another demolition for SDSU. This one would appropriate $70,000 to demolish the veterinary isolation building.

SB 27 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Authorize the Board of Regents to contract for the replacement of the plant science research support facility on the campus of South Dakota State University and to make an appropriation therefor.

Guess what, another BOR bill. This would appropriate $4,000,000 to build the plant science research support facility for SDSU.

SB 50 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Authorize the South Dakota Building Authority to provide for the construction, reconstruction, renovation, and modernization of state park facilities and infrastructure at Custer State Park for the Department of Game, Fish and Parks, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.

This bill was deferred from the Jan 23 meeting. Here are my notes preceding that meeting:

SB 53 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Revise certain provisions regarding the state aid to general education formula and to revise the property tax levies for the general fund of school districts.

This bill was orignally assigned to the Senate State Affairs committee, but was then moved referred to Senate Appropriations. The SD Bureau of Finance and Management (BFM) asked for this bill. I won’t go into detail on this one. But most notably this bill would change the “per student allocation” to $4876.76 for 2016, that is up from $4781.14 in 2015.

SB 54 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Revise certain provisions regarding the state aid to special education formula and to revise the property tax levies for special education.

A BFM bill to go along with SB 53. This one is for the special education formula. It looks similar to the percentages increased in SB 53.

HB 1057 – SoDakLiberty Posts – Make an appropriation to reimburse certain eligible health care professionals who have complied with the requirements of the rural health care facility recruitment assistance program and to declare an emergency.

The Department of Health (DOH) asked for this bill. The bill originally appropriated $302,500 for use with the rural health care facility recruitment assistance program. This bill was amended in House Appropriations down to the amount of $260,000 and passed 8-0. It also passed in the house with no opposition.